Feeding my chickens I'm new to this

[S_Robnett]

If you still need to build them a dusting space....

Peat moss, sand, wood ash (no chemicals) and top soil mixed together make a wonderful dusting area.

Ok thanks I have a ton of peat moss I'm not using. But how can I get ride of the de without causing more damage to more of my environment. I bought it because everyone told me it was natural and safe but I feel like what your saying I'd right every time I'm near it I end up needing my I asthma inhaler.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Ok thanks I have a ton of peat moss I'm not using. But how can I get ride of the de without causing more damage to more of my environment. I bought it because everyone told me it was natural and safe but I feel like what your saying I'd right every time I'm near it I end up needing my I asthma inhaler.

Honestly I am not sure the best way to dispose of it.

Good question though.

 

[Folly's place]

Chickens love corn! Given a choice they will eat it instead of their balanced diet every time. It's a good food, but not a complete diet by any means, and not a good thing to offer except in very small amounts as a treat.
I love to eat stuff that isn't balanced too; chocolate! wine! candy!
Mary

 

[TooCheep]

My meat birds are eating about 7 pounds of that feed in one day and only seem to want to eat either corn or bugs that are on the ground they wont eat what falls. They look like 2 year olds that just cant seem to work a spoon and all the food goes all over.

That is very common. Just chicken behavior. I recommend you look at these videos for a couple of ideas on how to build low-waste feeders. These only work with dry feed, but they work well. Given the number of birds you have, you'll need to build 2 or more.

 

[Folly's place]

I like the yellow plastic feeders from Premier1supplies.com. Inexpensive, have lasted years here, and harder for the birds to bill out the feed, especially if hung.
Mary

 

[NatJ]

They are three months old ... 8 of them are the huge meat birds

My meat birds are eating about 7 pounds of that feed in one day

The most obvious way to reduce your feed bill: butcher those meat birds! It is common to butcher meat birds sometime between 6 and 10 weeks old, so at 3 months (about 12 weeks) yours are already older than that. Many kinds of meat birds will die of being overweight if you raise them much longer--I don't know exactly what kind you've got, but "huge" usually goes with "dies young" in meat chickens. And younger ones are more tender.

 

[springvalley123]

I second the advice to butcher the meat birds. I'm assuming they're not cornish X, but something else since they've lived so long, but would think that most likely they're no longer growing fast enough to justify the continued feed expense. (I mean there's a point to butcher that's the most cost-effective, depending on the bird's growth rate). Similarly, I'd sell any of the layers you don't plan on keeping long-term, since at this point, I'd guess they won't start to lay until early -mid january, even later, depending on where you live.

I also looked into creating my own feed, and it was quite costly and involved. There'd need to be 1-2 supplements,whether it was something with kelp for trace minerals, and something else for regular vitamins and minerals. Then the idea of mashing it all up so you could make pellets out of it, so the birds would eat all the ingredients .... You can't just mix all of the involved list of ingredients and hope the birds would eat all of it up, they'd prefer certain ingredients no matter how hard it was for you to get each type of seed/grain/vitamin.

At 3 months, you could feed an all-flock but I agree, $17 for a big bag is about right for that food also.

I also found that I was wasting at least half of the food on the song birds at one point, so hopefully you'll be able to get a handle on that. I like the idea of the yellow hanging feeder in this thread, since I can't really have a feeder on the ground, due to the snakes I have nearby.

 

[slordaz]

They are three months old, I have been feeding them crumbles at 17 dollars a bag and that doesnt go to far with them their are 24 of them. 8 of them are the huge meat birds and 16 of them are egg layers.

the meat birds are your problem unless your making em free range with your egg layers, all they do is eat. but they are breed to be gone quickly too

 

[Kayla's Lunch]

You could wet their feed so they couldn't spread it around so easily.

 

[S_Robnett]

I will add to that that DE is not proven to eliminate an infestation or even prevent one.
It is however a very fine powder that is extremely hard on chickens tiny lungs as well as human lungs.
It becomes airborne very easily and floats far. It is harmful to bees and other beneficial insects.

Trying to formulate a feed at home that is nutritionally complete is much more expensive than buying one already made.

What advice did the feed store give you that caused bumble foot?

At the feed store I was told to keep them in a small cage about 6 foot by 6 foot so that they will get really big and not lose weight by moving around a lot. No matter what I did I couldnt keep the cage clean enough because it was so small and they poop way to much and the metal hurt their little feet. I just decided to give them a home that i felt would work better and they seem more happy and their feet were getting a little better before I even got to treat them. I'm sure by the time the treatment is done they will make a 100 percent recovery.